Practice Areas Medical Malpractice Nursing Malpractice

Attorneys Representing Victims Injured by Negligent Medical Care in South Florida

Nurses provide essential care to patients in doctors’ offices, hospitals, and treatment centers. Nurses, like other health care professionals, are obligated to provide competent care. Unfortunately, though, in some instances, nurses depart from the accepted standard of care, and their patients sustain injuries or illnesses as a result. If you or a loved one suffered harm because of negligent care provided by a nurse, you might be able to recover damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The knowledgeable Boca Raton nursing malpractice lawyers at The Grife Law Firm have the skills and experience needed to help you seek the most favorable result achievable under the facts of your case.

Examples of Incompetent Nursing Care

Nurses generally work in physicians’ offices and hospitals, providing care to patients by taking vital signs, administering medication, and meeting nutrition and grooming needs. When a nurse performs these tasks inadequately, it can result in serious harm. For example, a nurse may fail to administer the correct dosage of a medication or may administer an improper medication, damaging a patient’s health. A nurse may harm a patient by failing to institute proper fall prevention procedures as well. Similarly, a nurse who is responsible for bathing and repositioning a patient, but fails to do so thoroughly, can cause the patient to develop skin sores or infections.

Proving the Liability of a Nurse for Malpractice

Malpractice is the term used for negligence committed by a licensed professional, such as a nurse. Thus, to prove that a nurse should be liable for committing malpractice, an injured patient and a nursing malpractice attorney in Boca Raton must establish each element of a negligence claim. In other words, the patient must show that the nurse had a duty to conform to the prevailing professional standard of care, and the nurse breached the duty. The prevailing professional standard of care is the level of care, treatment, and skill that would be acceptable and prudent for a nurse with comparable training and experience to provide under similar circumstances. Once the patient has established that the nurse breached the applicable standard of care, he or she must show that the breach proximately caused the patient to suffer actual damages. In other words, the injured person must show that he or she would not have been harmed if not for the breach.

In most cases, expert testimony is required to establish both the standard of care that applied to the nurse and the way in which the care that the nurse provided deviated from the standard. Pursuant to Florida Statute 766.102, only certain people are qualified to provide expert opinions in medical malpractice cases. Specifically, the expert testifying must be a health care provider with an active and valid license who has devoted time in the three years prior to the alleged malpractice to clinical practice or consulting, the instruction of students, or a clinical research program in a similar field to the person who allegedly committed malpractice. A Boca Raton nursing malpractice attorney can help a patient retain a knowledgeable and persuasive expert.

Damages Recoverable for Harm Caused by Nursing Malpractice

When a nurse provides negligent care, it may not only cause physical harm but also result in emotional and financial harm. If you were harmed by a negligent nurse, you might be able to recover the cost of any treatment that you needed to undergo for your injuries, including therapy and prescriptions, as well as any out-of-pocket costs. You may also be able to recover compensation for lost earnings if you were unable to work due to the harm caused by the negligent nurse. Additionally, you may be awarded damages for the suffering and pain that you experienced because of the malpractice.